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Support Class (XCOM: Enemy Unknown)
The Support Class is one of the Soldier Classes in the game XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The primary role of the support class is to keep the team alive and / or provide covering fire. They can learn to use medikits more efficiently, to cover the battlefield with smoke grenades and the ability to run further than other classes. Their covering fire and suppression abilities can help control enemy movement on the battlefield. Rookie promotion is slightly weighted toward classes you have less of, but promotion is otherwise completely random. Weapons The support class can be equipped with rifle weapons and handgun. Abilities Builds and tactics The support can be built as a medic (favoring left side) or as front line support (right side). * Sprinter is highly effective at gaining flanks and entering melee for use of the Arc Thrower, and later with Deep Pockets, you can additionally carry a Medikit, making the Support an ideal choice for capturing live aliens. * Covering Fire is less useful but has notable synergy with the Colonel upgrade Sentinel allowing two shots per Overwatch in just about any engagement. * At Sergeant, Field Medic is one of the best overall upgrades for the class. * Smoke and Mirrors can suit an agressive Assault / Heavy squad that tends to get into a lot of standoffs or where Assaults ends their turn in a dicey situation. Given the strength of Snipers at ending standoffs quickly, this niche is small indeed, but there are times, notably when your promoted snipers were lost, where it might be worthwhile in the meantime. * Revive has its uses, with strong synergy with the officer trait "Don't Die On Me" that makes it more likely that highly promoted troops fall critically wounded instead of being killed, but Rifle Suppression tends to see more practical use. The Support tends to have weak offensive options anyway, unlike the Heavy, who shouldn't really be wasting turns suppressing whenever possible. * Dense Smoke increases the core functionality of smoke grenades and tend to be more useful than Combat Drugs. The critical chance gain is marginal and the will bonus tends to not impact psionic encounters more than simply having an extra turn. It is crucial however for psionic counterattacks on the psionic enemies, notably for the Ethereal mind control achievement. * Both Savior and Sentinel are worthy picks in their own right, Field Medic and Savior working well together, and Covering Fire and Sentinel as stated before. It is notable that before the Medikit upgrade this doubles medikit value, and after increases it 66%, whereas after the Foundry upgrade to increase magazine size, Sentinel ammo consumption is less relevant. Savior is a significant, reliable increase to the core strength of the class, and like Field Medic, is hard to pass up. * On the Impossible and/or Ironman difficulty, however, the choice of path is quite clear since you cannot allow your support soldier to trade shots and you need him to heal a lot more. Covering Fire only activates after an enemy attacks, which means it does not prevent any damage. Sentinel can shoot an additional charging enemy but to gain its full use you'd have to position your Support much closer to the front line than advisable. Category:Soldier Classes